AMCIS2013 Andrien Zanier e-learning for the modern executive

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17, 2013. 1

Americas Conference on Information Systems AMCIS2013 Chicago

e-Learning for the Ambitious Brazilian Executive Completed Research

ABSTRACT

A Graduate Degree in a prestigious business school abroad is the goal of many Brazilian Executives. Unfortunately, there are

two admissions tests that need to be taken prior to enrolling in such school. The volume of material to study would make it

impossible to manage if not done with the help of a powerful e-learning tool. A specialized company based in Sao Paulo

developed a class format with WebEx focused on aiding these Executives on studying for the admissions tests and

succeeding in their educational goals. This article describes the results of an online survey conducted with students that

simultaneously use WebEx on 3 different continents. These results were analyzed from a Human-computer interaction

viewpoint in conjunction with non-functional Usability Requirements. This article demonstrates and reinforces the immense

potential that e-learning tools have for Business Executives in Brazil.

Keywords

e-learning, usability, open distance learning, efficiency, human-computer interaction

INTRODUCTION

In tandem with the Hyperconnected World theme, this article demonstrates the thoughts of ambitious Brazilian Business

Executives that are engaging in advanced e-learning education.

Since the partnership between MEC (Department of Education of Brazil) and the top Brazilian Universities in 2005 to

improve online educational efforts (Alves, 2011), a lot has been done to use the power of online information systems focused

on e-learning.

Starting in 2008 in Sao Paulo (Brazil), a specialized school for business education, MBA House, made a novel effort to cater

to a new form of student clientele: Brazilian Business Executives. Instead of simply relying on storage servers loaded with

inefficient databases of static files, MBA House adopted the use of an advanced and efficient e-learning tool called Cisco

WebEx.

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this article is to assess if WebEx is perceived by its end-user, the MBA House students, as a useful and

satisfactory e-learning tool. In order to correctly measure the overall efficiency of WebEx, an online survey was utilized to

gather the end-user point of view, using as criteria non-functional Usability Requirements.

THE PROBLEM AT HAND

These Brazilian Executives main educational goal is to be admitted in prestigious Graduate Degree MBA programs (Master

of Business Administration) in the USA and in Europe. As a requirement for admission into these MBA programs, the

Executives must study for and reach a high score on 2 standardized tests, comprised of the GMAT or GRE and TOEFL or

IELTS. These standardized tests are structured with dozens of computer adaptive questions covering logical reasoning and

quantitative methods (GMAT or GRE) and English language proficiency (TOEFL or IELTS).

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17, 2013. 2

Due to this fact, these Executives have a very large quantity of studying materials to memorize and master; including math

formulas, math rules, sentence structure and pronunciation of the English language. Clearly, for Executives to study at a

predetermined location without a present tutor is not a good idea, unless, they can utilize an efficient e-learning tool. The

Executives tend to study from the convenience of their homes or offices, and cannot be physically present at classes every

day.

As stakeholders of their educational goals, these Executives can suffer from the common loss of motivation created by the

inexistent face-to-face contact with instructors and productivity oriented moments with classmates. To counter this effect, a

high level of two-way interactivity provided by the e-learning tool is desired and necessary to improve the learning

experience even if the students on average have already 16-18 years of studying experience and are familiar with ODL (Open

Distance Learning) and its performance feedback functionalities (Dzakiria, Kasim, Mohamed, Christopher, 2013).

THE SOLUTION AT HAND

Fortunately, with MBA House adopting the use of WebEx, now these same Executives have a more efficient e-learning tool

to aid them study with probable higher rates of success (Driscoll, 2010).

Once these Executives graduate from their respective business schools abroad, they usually return to Brazil to accept high-

end managerial positions, contributing to the national economy with their newly acquired knowledge and graduate degree

skills. This fact is supported by the recent phenomenon as reported by several Universities across the USA (http_1, 2011).

This line of thought makes the present article relevant to such a novel subject.

As a Brazilian corporation and ODL provider, it is MBA House best interest to provide an e-learning experience that is

efficient and offers high rates of success when students have doubts or questions about the content that will be taught (Ruiz,

Mintzer, Leipzig, 2006).

WebEx offers many interactivity tools that can help this efficiency to be achieved: tools such as the real-time chat window,

the shared interactive board for the instructor or the student, the multi-user microphone capability, within others (Cisco,

2013). These interactive functions are a great help considering that instructors and students may not be completely at ease

when embarking on an e-learning venture (Dzakiria, et al., 2013).

E-LEARNING TOOL ANALYZED

Cisco WebEx Training Center was launched in its modern platform format in 2007 as a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service). It

combines synchronous real-time computer interface sharing with VoIP conferencing, so users can see the same content

displayed on the software interface (http_3, 2013).

A Corporation can subscribe to this SaaS in accordance to the number of online students it intends to have. WebEx offers

ways that the training tutor can control the computer screen or content displayed of other students. A training session can be

arranged by a tutor and later joined by the students with a single password and button click to confirm the interest in joining

the session (http_3, 2013).

E-LEARNING SCHOOL ANALYZED

The use of various Internet solutions that enhance knowledge and performance, improving the efficiency of educational

efforts is the purpose of e-learning. As opposed to standard e-learning classes, MBA House’s classes are created with a

predetermined topic (Math or English) and adapted to the level of knowledge of the present group of students attending the

online class. This demands a software solution that is reliable, permitting seamless connectivity and immediate information

sharing and visualization.

MBA House’s lectures are very spontaneous and a high level of tension can be present within the students and their tutor

during a class. There is a large dose of concern by the MBA House staff to maintain satisfactory student body motivation (M.

Ambrozio, phone interview, Sao Paulo, December 1, 2012).

At first, MBA House was concerned that a large amount of students in one training session at once would lower the

efficiency of the class being taught (Childs, Blenkinsopp, Hall, Walton, 2005), but with the proper training of the tutors and

the cooperation of the students online, the overall satisfaction level of the classes via WebEx was guaranteed (M. Ambrozio,

phone interview, Sao Paulo, December 1, 2012).

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17, 2013. 3

LIMITATIONS OF THE ARTICLE

The author noticed that there is a lack of usability literature dealing directly with e-learning for this type of business model.

Due to this fact, some adaptation of concepts was inevitable. Some corporative information contained in this article may

seem commercially biased. Nevertheless, all efforts were made to extract the scientific contribution to the e-learning field.

Additionally, it was not this article’s intention to explain in detail what is e-learning and all its conceptual variations and

present educational ramifications.

DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGY

One of the supportive purposes of this article was to allow the end-user of the e-learning tool to adequately judge the tool and

make their opinions voiced regarding certain criteria. With the goal of obtaining these opinions of actual students that use

WebEx in their daily study routines, an uncontrolled online survey was used. The questions were structured with a basis on

non-functional Usability Requirements. There were 8 questions in both English and Portuguese on the survey.

The survey was deployed via e-mail to a list of 200 matriculated students at MBA House. Most schools that utilize e-learning

never conduct a qualitative survey as to what their student body thinks about the tool that they are using (Galhardi, 2012).

The approach used in this article aims to exactly bridge this gap and contribute in a relevant manner to the scientific

community. This type of online survey tends to get more honest answers from the respondents, because these same

respondents are less inhibited by not having a physically present interviewer (Baldanza, Abreu, 2012).

The online survey was created with a template from the company Free Online Surveys (http_4, 2013). The link to the survey

can be found here:

http://freeonlinesurveys.com/s.asp?sid=knk5fwdbk1id4ek185711

NON-FUNCTIONAL USABILITY REQUIREMENTS

Usability is the characteristic that determines if a software interface can be easily maneuvered, quickly learned, provides

satisfaction and is efficient. The functional Usability Requirements describe what the software does. The non-functional

Usability Requirements describe the insertion (input) and presentation (output) of information via the software (Ferreira,

Leite, 2004-I). This article focuses only on the non-functional requirements. They are directly connected to Human-computer

interaction processes and are very important to the overall satisfaction of the software end-user. To aid the article on

measuring efficiency of an e-learning tool, Usability Specialists suggest a simplified taxonomy of non-functional Usability

Requirements for information systems (Ferreira, Leite, 2004-II):

Requirements for information output

Consistency

Visual presentation

Behavior

Proper use of colors

Use of icons for functions

Human-computer interaction levels

Visual resources

Minimization of mental-model load

Functional classification of commands

Exhibition of information that is relevant

Use of labels

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17, 2013. 4

Requirements for information input

Help mechanisms

Error prevention

Orientation for data input

Flexible interaction

Possible customization

From this proposed taxonomy and additional comments below, it is possible to extract some requirements that can be directly

utilized to analyze WebEx and its interface performance:

There is a need for the software to be well designed in regards to its functions, navigation and imagery (Childs et al.,

2005);

General interface Usability of the e-learning tool has to favor student participation (Baldanza, Abreu, 2012);

A higher contrast of text and background color is desired such as blue, red and yellow fonts against a white

background (Hall, Hanna, 2004);

Simplicity in interface design can aid the beginner user of the software (Leporini, Andronico, Buzzi, 2004);

The Mental-model is achieved when the user understands how the software functions properly (Benini, Batista,

Zuffo, 2005);

INNOVATIVE E-LEARNING

The traditional method of e-learning via repository databases (Figure 1) was not sufficiently efficient for this type of student

clientele encountered by MBA House. It can be noted that there is no interactivity between users and that the content is static.

Figure 1. Traditional method of delivering content

The innovative method of e-learning via WebEx demonstrates that several non-functional Usability Requirements have been

taken into consideration when designing the interface and functions of the software. For data output it was made available

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17, 2013. 5

dynamic “blue fonts” electronic writing on the whiteboard and “host” speaking function for instant feedback (Figure 2). For

data input it was made available a “multi-user chat” function for additional interactivity (Figure 3).

Figure 2. Demonstration of dynamic writing and speaking

Figure 3. Demonstration of chat function

For both data input and data output it was made available extensive use of icons such as “lift your hand” to get the attention

of the host/tutor (Figure 4) and “go back” to main menu and shortcut functions during an online class session (Figure 5).

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17, 2013. 6

Figure 4. Demonstration of icon use

Figure 5. Demonstration of shortcuts use

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

A total of forty-three responses were received by the online survey on behalf of students who are currently enrolled at MBA

House (Figure 6). All participation was voluntary and all the respondents were working adults, with ages between 25 and 35

years old; from 9 different countries: Brazil, USA, Italy, England, Portugal, Spain, Chile, France and Belgium (Figure 7).

They come from various undergraduate educational backgrounds such as engineering, economics and business, and are

presently working in different sectors such as finance, manufacturing, law and commerce. All questions and answers were

inserted and commented as follows.

Figure 6. Online survey total responses

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17, 2013. 7

Figure 7. Country of origin of responses

Figure 8. Questions 1 and 2 and correspondent answers

The majority of respondents (41 respondents) are satisfied with WebEx’s interactive functions, indicating that WebEx

suffices the requirement for data input (Figure 8). Also, the majority of respondents (41 respondents) mentioned that

WebEx’s color scheme of the whiteboard is useful, in accordance to the non-functional Usability Requirements taxonomy

and comments section of this article (Figure 8). Both of these thoughts are aligned with global trends as to the specified goals

an e-learning tool has to propose (Celik, 2012).

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17, 2013. 8

Figure 9. Questions 3 and 4 and correspondent answers

As seen by the number of “Yes” answers (34 answers) for question 3 (Figure 9), it is important for the e-learning tool to

possess a practical access system as to consequently increase end-user participation simultaneously (Dobrilovic, Jevtic,

Odadzic, 2013). Most students (22 students) only access WebEx Training Center once a week to carry-out their studies with

MBA House tutors (Figure 9).

Figure 10. Questions 5 and 6 and correspondent answers

WebEx abides by several guidelines for font style and color for improved viewing and contrast (Vieira, Noronha, 2011). It

possesses well projected icons that can be quicker to use than word buttons, in accordance to the non-functional Usability

Requirements taxonomy and comments section of this article. Perhaps even if not fluent in the English Language an end-user

can benefit of this fact.

Also, various menus are automatically collapsible and help in increasing the visualization screen area. We can clearly see that

the students value the interactive functions of WebEx as demonstrated by the number of responses, considering the

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17, 2013. 9

opportunity to interact with the tutors and their classmates to be one of the best efficiency features of WebEx. In regards to

overall efficiency, WebEx received a very positive vote from 42 respondents (Figure 10).

Prior to enrollment at MBA House, WebEx was still completely unknown for 74.4% of the respondents; demonstrating the

potential for growth of e-learning tools within other types of student clientele (Figure 10).

Figure 11. Questions 7 and 8 and correspondent answers

Surprisingly, 34.9% of respondents suggested that improvements in audio performance must be taken in consideration.

Perhaps the widespread use of laptops to study via WebEx can have negatively contributed if the Wi-Fi zones weren’t

properly assisted by strong internet signals (http_2, 2011). Contrary to mainstream trends of tablet use, only 1 respondent

consented to connecting to WebEx via tablet (Figure 11).

CONCLUSION

Since there is little material available directly in tune to the research presented here, the scientific community should continue

to pursue the work started in this article. As suggested future research, the author will perform an in depth Conjoint Analysis

of WebEx functionalities along with a new survey that has answers on a Likert scale. If technologies like WebEx continue to

evolve this way it is a sure indicator that e-learning will continue to evolve into a useful and efficient way of helping

Brazilian and Global Business Executives to reach their educational goals.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, the author would like to thank the school MBA House for their kindness in supporting the data collection. Second, the

author would also like to thank the company Free Online Survey for their free-of-charge survey functionality upgrade.

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Chicago, Illinois, August 15-17, 2013. 10

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